It was the gayest season ever of The Amazing Race, and also one of the best ever. Coincidence? I don't think so. There was father and son Mel and Mike White, who are both gay; sisters Kisha and Jen, (Kisha is a lesbian); one person who apparently isn't out of the closet; and, finally, Luke Adams and his mom Margie.

Luke and Margie were the only team with a gay member to make it to the final three, and while they didn't quite make it over the finish line first, they ran an impressive race — especially considering Luke is deaf, a potential drawback in a race where quick communication can be vital.

While the show never identified Luke as gay, this 24-year-old Coloradan is out and proud — and especially proud of the fact that he's the youngest gay man to ever make it to the final three. There were a lot of firsts on this season of The Amazing Race, but I'll let Luke tell us about them later. He is the resident TAR expert, after all.

AE: You were the first mother and son to make it to the final three, correct?MA: I think so, Luke would know better than me.Luke Adams: Yes.

AE: Luke, you're not only the first deaf racer on the show, but also the youngest gay person to make it to the final three. What did it mean for you guys to be on The Amazing Race and make it so far?MA: It's incredible. I think we still think we're dreaming.

AE: Luke, from our interview with Mel White, we understand you are openly gay and wanted to be identified as such, but the TAR producers didn't want to. Do you feel they missed out on a chance to represent an extremely under-represented segment of the gay and lesbian community?LA: CBS didn't want to add too many labels, a gay this or a gay that. Mel and Mike were very open about being gay, that was their team. I think the focus on my team with my mom was the fact that I was deaf, not that I was gay. I think they didn't want to confuse people by adding too many labels to me.MA: [laughs] There are a lot of labels that could be on him!LA: A lot of people have misconceptions that I like Cara and Jamie [pictured, right], and that's not true. We're friends, of course, but my interest in them is not like that. [laughs]

AE: What dating challenges do you face as a young, gay deaf man that a hearing person might not?LA: It's the same.MA: I think his dating options are fewer. [laughs]LA: Dating for me might be a little harder because of the communication issue. I need to find someone to date who is willing to have patience and learn sign, and is willing to understand the deaf culture. I suppose that could be an issue.

AE: What message would you most like the hearing gay community to take away from your time on the show?LA: I don't know. When I was in the race, I was really focused. That's not who I am. I'm not the same person I was on the race. I want people to know I'm the same as all other people except I can't hear. That's the only difference.

AE: Margie, how did you react when Luke came out?MA: Luke told me when he was nineteen and he was a freshman in college. He told me in a text message from school, because that's how we communicate, through text or relay, and I said, "Okay. Thank you for telling me. Why did you wait so long?" He was surprised and said, "What?" LA: No, no, no, Mom. I wanted to make sure I was actually gay. There was a time in my life that I was a little bit confused. I felt kind of both ways about it, but I wanted to make sure before I said anything to you that I was gay.MA: Yeah, well, Luke sends me this text message and says, "I have something really important to tell you, and I don't want to hurt your feelings and I don't want you to be mad, but I'm gay." And I was like, "Thank you for telling me." And he was like, "You're not mad?" And I just said, "Why would I be mad? I've known your whole life." [laughs]

It doesn't change who Luke is. He's my son. He's a wonderful person. If he likes a man or likes a woman, that doesn't make any difference to me. I just want him to be happy. I called his sister when he told me, and said, "Hey, Luke finally came out." And she said, "Oh, it's about time." [laughs] There was no drama, no surprise. Nothing really changed except I think Luke was able to take a breath and be himself a little more around us.LA: Actually, I felt a lot better after I did come out to my mom.

AE: Luke, do you have a boyfriend? I see your Facebook profile says "in a relationship."LA: I'm single.MA: And looking...

AE: I'll be sure to stress that Mom said he's looking!MA: [laughs]

AE: Back to the show. The two of you have such a great relationship, and your closeness really seemed to play to your advantage in the game — especially your ability to communicate using sign language. Were there ever times when Luke's hearing impairment was a distinct disadvantage?MA: I think when we were on the rickshaw in Phuket, Thailand. He was just out of my reach so I couldn't get his attention. I couldn't touch him to get him to stop, I couldn't give him directions, so if he was running, I couldn't get his attention. That was really frustrating for me. He was just out of reach, even with the hat or whatever. That was the one time I think we had a disadvantage.

AE: Margie, Phil nicknamed you the bionic woman, and for good reason — you were like superwoman for most of the race, annihilating much younger competition on both physical and mental challenges right up till the end. What's your secret? How do you stay in such amazing shape?MA: [laughs] Well, you know, in truth, I'm not really in such amazing shape.LA: Yes, you are mom. Yes, you are.MA: I don't know. I exercise pretty regularly, not too extreme or anything like that. I run two or three miles a couple times a week, I go to the gym a couple times a week. I don't have a trainer or anything like that. I just try to take care of myself. The Colorado lifestyle lends itself to being healthy. There are so many beautiful places to hike.

When it's nice, you just want to be outside. And I'm fortunate; I come from a large family, I have five brothers and three sisters, and we're all pretty athletic, we're all pretty natural athletes. We were brought up playing sports, running, swimming, and things like, so I've always been exposed to things like that. It's just part of who I am. I don't go out of my way to exercise or anything like that. I guess I'm just very fortunate.

AE: what was the hardest challenge? Was it the rickshaw challenge?LA: The makeup challenge! I have no skill for how to put makeup on.MA: And it was frustrating for me because he did such a horrible job and made me look so horrible, that... [laughs] You know what? I don't think there was a physical challenge that we really minded. The rickshaw challenge when I fainted, that was supposed to be a two mile run, but Luke and I got lost with the help of some British tourists who told us to go to the wrong place, so we ended up going five miles that day.

It was almost a hundred degrees, it was so humid, and we didn't have water with us. It wasn't that it was a difficult challenge, it just went too long for us. All the physical challenges were hard, don't get me wrong, but there was nothing there we didn't feel like we couldn't do. It was the mental things like the Chekov puzzle that gave us a little more of a challenge. [laughs]

AE: What was your favorite challenge?LA: Carrying the pig and the cheese hill. The first challenge and the last challenge.MA: Those were the favorites for me, too. We lived in Hawaii for three years; Luke's dad was in the army. We didn't live on Maui, but going back to Hawaii for the final leg of the race was really fun for us. We'd been to many luaus, so it was a really cool ending to the race for us because we were back in a place we were very comfortable in, and familiar with the culture. It was just awesome to be back there. So yeah, the first and the last were amazing for us, even though we didn't win the last. [laughs]

AE: Do you regret the fight with Kisha and Jen? Have you guys made up or is there still some animosity there?MA: No, there's no animosity left. We totally regret...LA: Maybe a little awkward.MA: Yeah, it's definitely awkward, but the race was such a wonderful experience, everything single minute was fabulous, and to have just that one, short, brief moment on the race when things didn't go well... It was just an awkward time. There were a lot of misunderstandings, a lot of hurt feelings. We were exhausted. We've definitely made up with Kisha and Jen. We have so much respect for those women. They are fantastic athletes. They are wonderful women who contribute so much to the community with their jobs. They're just fantastic people. That is the one regret we have on the race that one little brief skirmish we had.

AE: Were you close to any of the other teams?LA: Cara and Jamie, and Tammy and Victor.

AE: That was nice that you all ended up in the final three, then.MA: Yes. Actually, the first night of the race, when we stopped in Lucarte, Switzerland at the church, it was the day after Halloween, All Souls Day, which is a holy day in Switzerland, so a lot of the stores were closed, the streets were deserted. We found a little café that was open, and Cara and Jamie, Tammy and Victor, and Luke and I sat down and we shared one small pizza because we didn't want to spend our money. We had the nicest evening. We talked about how fun it was to be on the race, and how cool it would be if this was the final three, and how we really liked each other a lot, and we would help each other when we could, and when it was race time, it was race time. We stuck with that through the whole race, and it actually happened that we were the final three teams, so it was pretty cool.

AE: What did you learn about each other that most surprised you?MA: The thing that I learned about Luke was how competitive he is. I had never, ever seen that side of him.LA: Yeah, I'm very competitive.MA: I mean, Luke has always tried his best. He did really well in school and graduated from college. He's always done his best, but I never saw that competitive edge to him that I saw on the race. I was so impressed that every challenge, he gave 110% of what he had to complete it. He was so encouraging with me, "You can do it, Mom. Come on." It was just really, really nice to see. Luke's always been kind of low-key and easygoing, a go-with-the-flow kind of kid, so to see that competitive spirit and nature in him was really nice.LA: Before the race started, Mom used to doubt herself about her strength. I never doubted my mom for one second. I knew she could do it. I knew with a positive attitude she could do it. I knew she was the right team partner for me.

AE: Thanks for making me cry, Luke.MA: [laughs]LA: And not only me, I think she surprised herself. I don't think she knew she had those physical capabilities in her when we did those challenges. She's fifty-one years old, and she's an amazing person. I'm so proud of her.Interpreter: And you're going to make the interpreter cry. [laughs]

AE: This season is being called one of the best ever. Why do you think it worked so well?LA: The challenges, the cast chemistry, and a lot of my season had first experiences happen, like mom and me being the first mother and son team to make it to the final three, the first two-woman team to make it to the final three, the first Asian team the make the final three, and the fact that mom and I were in the top four from the beginning to the end.

And people would always say, you're either in first place or fourth place, you kind of take turns back and forth. I think people watched Phil learn sign language to say we were team number one or four or whatever place we came in. I think people really loved the last four because it was kind of Kisha and Jen against us, and Cara and Jamie against Tammy and Victor. And my season was the first time we used the U-Turn two times and both of them were successful. Last season, no one used a U-Turn or if they did, it failed. In my season, we were successful in using both U-Turns, there were a lot of first times for many different things this season.MA: I agree, it was really exciting, but I think the number one thing was the chemistry of the teams. We all really liked each other, we respected each other, we saw what great competitors everybody was. We just got along really well. It was really nice. It was a nice group to travel with and just be with.

AE: What's next for the both of you?MA: My fifteen minutes of fame is ticking away here, so I'm going to stay at my job and life goes back to normal.LA: I'm looking for opportunities. I hope something will come my way soon. And also I hope we'll be picked for the All-Star team.MA: [laughs] I need a vacation first.

The mother-son team of Margie Adams, 50, and Luke Adams, 22, were strong competitors throughout the 12 laps of the race and were leading for most of the finale until Luke, who is hearing impaired, got frustrated on the Road Block. The team finished third.

Q: Why did you decide to do the race?Margie: I think the first reason was that Luke was the biggest fan of the show and really wanted to be on it. I think just for the adventure and the fun …Luke (through his interpreter Janet): When I was growing up, a lot of hearing people oppressed me. They would say that just because you couldn’t hear you couldn’t do things. That really frustrated me. When I told people I wanted to go on “The Amazing Race,” they gave me this look like: “You? But you’re deaf. They will never take you.” So I actually applied four times to be on the show. People would say stop doing it, you are going to disappoint yourself. I said I am going to get picked on the show and I will make it to the final three and people would laugh at me because I am deaf. I had a talk with my mom and on the first show we were so focused on the challenge. I wanted to be successful on that first leg.Q: Luke, what type of response have you had from the deaf community?Luke: At first, when the show started to air, deaf people were so happy about it and then, as the show continued on, there were more and more deaf people who became excited. When we made it to the final three, the deaf community was thrilled.Q: Would you talk about the whole conflict with Kisha and Jen, where both Jen and Luke were running for the box and Luke accidentally elbowed Jen and she called him a bitch for doing that?Margie: It was very shocking and it was very unfortunate. As a mother with Luke growing up as a deaf child, he experienced so much people laughing at him. We have had people call him retarded. We have had people throw food on him. Luke’s dad was in the Army, so we moved around a lot and experienced it [at every location]. People don’t understand that.I tried to stay out of that conflict with Jen and Kisha. And I did. I just interpreted what was going but at the end when there was laughing and giggling when Luke was trying to express himself, it just all came back to me — just how rude people can be. I know now that Jen and Kisha - it was a nervous laughter, a tense situation and they didn’t intend to be insulting.Jen and Kisha and Luke and I have resolved the issue and I understand that was not their intent at all. But you are exhausted. We were hungry. The night before we had slept outside in a tent in the rain. And they don’t show everything leading up to it. There were a lot of things going on day. Everybody has accepted their responsibility ane their part in that and we have apologized. I have the ultimate respect for Jen and Kisha, as athletes, women and people.–Susan King, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Exclusive Interview with Margie and Luke Adams of The Amazing RacePosted on 05/11/2009 by Gina in Amazing Race 14, Cast Interviews

by Gina Scarpa

Last night, The Amazing Race came to a heartbreaking conclusion for mother and son team, Margie and Luke. They started the last leg in second place but quickly lead the pack through two tasks. When they stopped at a road block, Luke felt he had the challenge in the bag. Teams had to search through surfboards, find symbols that represented each leg of the race, and place them on a fence in the correct order. It seemed Luke would easily complete the challenge but he got stuck on the last symbol and it cost them the race. Margie and Luke finished the race in third place and today, spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview about their experiences on the show.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Whose idea was it to try out for The Amazing Race?A. Margie: It was totally Luke’s idea. He started watching the show when he was 16, the first season. He had applied with a girl from college, a deaf girl. We also applied for the family show. We got a callback and they said we wouldn’t be right for this season. CBS sent an email and said that they liked Luke but it would be hard to have two deaf people. Luke asked me to do it and I said, “Sure I’ll do it.” I hadn’t seen much of the show.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Any reservations about going into the race, because Luke is deaf?A. Margie: Not really. A. Luke: It was not awkward for me. It might be awkward for other teams.A. Margie: Luke and I have communicated our whole life. It was no problem. That’s just how our life is.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You formed an alliance with Jaime, Cara, Tammy, and Victor on day one. Was there ever a time that you considered racing alone or did you want to stick with them through the entire race?A. Luke: Oh no, we absolutely wanted to stick with Jaime and Cara and Tammy and Victor all the way to the end. A. Margie: We had so much respect for Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara as racers and as people. That first night, when we shared the pizza, we said, “This would be so cool if this was the final three.” There was no backstabbing, there were no broken promises.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Margie, you were a physical force to be reckoned with this season! Did you work out prior to coming on the show?A. Margie: I’ve always worked out, not excessively or anything. I run 2-3 miles a couple times a week. I go to the gym… not now as often as I should. We do a lot of outdoor activities and we live at about 8,000 feet so that helped. I surprised myself on the race.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: We saw the two of you clash with Jen and Kisha. How do you feel about that, looking back on it? Was that just the heat of the moment on the race?A. Luke: Absolutely the heat of the moment.A. Margie: There’s so much that you don’t see and that they don’t have time to put in. The night before the incident, we slept outside, in the rain, on top of a mountain. It was a miserable night. I think everybody was just exhausted. Luke and I were getting on each other’s nerves. If it had happened on a day when we were more rested, I think it would’ve been much less of an incident. We’ve apologized and Jen and Kisha have apologized. We have nothing but respect for them.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Though you got along with many of the teams on the race, it seemed that your relationship with Jaime and Cara was special. Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with them?A. Luke: The first day that we met on the race, I felt a real connection with jaime and Cara. They were willing to write notes and learn the ASL alphabet. I just knew that they would be a supportive team. Sometimes, they might write notes and they wanted to keep me included in the conversation. Mom did a great job but they were awesome in including me. If Mom and I couldn’t win, I was hoping Jaime and Cara would win and they hoped the same thing for us.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: I know it was hard for you to come in third in the race. How do you feel about it now that you’ve had some time since the race ended?A. Luke: It’s still hard for me because it was a big dream to be on the show and of course, I wanted to win ever since I was 16 years old, I wanted to be on the show and win. I actually never thought we’d get on the show. I had applied so many times. I was worried we’d be the first team eliminated and then we ended up winning the first leg. Then I realized it was a possibility - maybe we could do it. From the beginning to the end, we were always in the top four. On that last leg, we finished the pig race first, the jet skis first, but that last challenge, the pictures were confusing. A. Margie: It’s hard to watch. Sitting there last night, in a large group of people and having to watch that all fall apart… our family was there and they didn’t know whether we had won or lost. We were worried about our family. It was just a very, very emotional night.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What’s in the future you, more traveling perhaps?A. Luke: I’m hoping to go on The Amazing Race: All Stars!A. Margie: I travel for my job so my ideal vacation is staying home and relaxing!

How do you feel upon viewing the finale? Luke, do you still feel remorseful about that last Roadblock?

Luke: It bothered me, but the more I heard people were enjoying the show and thought our team was the best ever, it made me feel good. A lot of people said, “I’m so proud of you. It doesn’t matter that you came in second or third place, I’m happy for you.” They didn’t care if we won or not. They said I inspired a lot of people and I’m really proud of that.

Margie: [Laughs] Don’t let him fool you. It was a very emotional night last night.

Margie, did you know you were so physically fit and capable or did you even surprise yourself?

Margie: I’m not like a super runner or anything like that. I do run. I do hike. I exercise, but not fanatically, so I was very surprised. I was floored that I could do that cheese task. I’m glad it came first because it gave me the confidence to try things I’d never done before. Every single thing we did, I surprised myself.

Was it exhausting doing the communication work for two?

Margie: Yeah. The way Luke and I communicate is we use sign and we don’t voice when we sign. Nobody talks. And when we were on the show, I had to speak and sign for myself and then when Luke signed, I had to speak for him. And when we were interacting with other people, I had to sign and speak for them, so it was exhausting. It was so counterintuitive to our normal means of communication. When we got home, I told Luke, “I’m not going to talk to you for three days. I’m just going to rest my hands."

Is there currently still tension between you and Kisha and Jen?

Luke: I saw Jen a few weeks ago. We didn’t talk a lot. It was a little awkward between us.

Margie: But there are no hard feelings. We talk to them, we respect them. It was just a moment on the show that happened. They’re fabulous athletes and great people.

Luke: We do like them. But I guess the incident made for great drama on the show.

Whom were you closest to in the Race?

Luke: Mom and I only really interacted with: Cara and Jaime, Victor and Tammy, and Mike and Mel.

So, you were happy with the final winner, if it couldn’t be you?

Luke: If it hadn’t been Mom and I, honestly I wish it had been Cara and Jaime. Because my mom and I were really really close to them. There was a nice connection between the four of us.

Margie: But we are happy that Tammy and Victor won. They have been so gracious and they have been so–I don’t even know what the word is—but they’re such fabulous people. We were all so thrilled that we were the ones in the final three.

Luke, I know you’re a big fan of the Race. Which season is your favorite and which Racers?

Luke: Season 4 is my favorite. Kelly and Jon. The challenges and cast from that season were pretty awesome.

What are you watching on TV now?

Luke: The Biggest Loser. I love that show.

Margie: The New Adventures of Old Christine. And I love Two and a Half Men.

Is there another reality show you’d want to go on?

Luke: I’d love to go on The Amazing Race again. I don’t think any other reality show compares to it, with the experience of being able to travel the world, seeing the different cultures, the countries [that] are so beautiful. No other show has that kind of experience.

Two puzzling surfboard photos prevented Luke Adams from being Amazing Race's first deaf winner. But even if the die-hard Race fan and his mom, Margie, had won, they'd probably still be remembered more for their infamous fight with Kisha and Jen. Is it all water under the bridge now? Find out what the third-place finishers had to say below, as well as why Luke couldn't stay cool under pressure at the Roadblock.

Check out our interviews with winners Tammy and Victor here, and runners-up Jaime and Cara here.

TVGuide.com: Luke, you're obviously a huge fan of the show and you seem like a real student of the Race. Did that put more pressure on you at the Roadblock?Luke: There was a lot of pressure. The deaf community was watching me. First, I was on the show and here I am at the end, and I had a lot of responsibility. What they didn't show was that there were producers and a lot of people standing around with cameras watching the Roadblock and I wasn't expecting that, so that kind of added a lot of pressure to have all these eyes on me. My goal was to finish it before the last two teams arrived. [Victor] arriving did not throw me off. I knew that when they got there, they would finish that fast, so it made me hurry up myself.

TVGuide.com: Did you get confused with the last two surfboards because the previous leg was a double leg?Luke: Actually, it was the pictures that were more confusing. I didn't have a problem with the second-to-the last one ... but since I wasn't the one eating the bugs, I really had a hard time finding that one. There were three surfboards with pictures of bugs and [the spear] looked like a sword, so that's what confused me.

TVGuide.com: How far behind Tammy and Victor were you?Luke: It was really a short time. We were two minutes behind Cara and Jaime. Victor and Tammy left maybe 10 minutes before us.

TVGuide.com: I don't know if you know this or not, but for the past few seasons, the team who arrived first at the Roadblock did not win, so is there some sort of curse?Margie: [Laughs] It's just really bad luck.Luke: When I arrived at the Roadblock, I knew the history of that and I was hoping to break that chain, but that didn't happen.

TVGuide.com: You guys built such a huge lead from the pig task up until then. How disappointing was it to get passed at the final task?Margie: The hardest thing was watching Luke. I could see that he felt disappointed with himself and that he felt he let me down. But anybody can win. It just wasn't our turn. When we first started, of course we wanted to win, but realistically, I didn't think we would actually win. We wanted to make it far and didn't want to be the first team eliminated. But when we got the lead — after being 20 minutes behind leaving the airport — I started to let myself think maybe we would win. Luke: I was disappointed. It was hard. The thing I was proud of was that we were the first mother-and-son team to make it to the end.

TVGuide.com: Your competitors have called you deceitful. Do you think you were?Margie: I don't think we were ever deceitful, but sometimes it looked like that on TV, because of editing partially. When we U-Turned Amanda and Kris, Amanda said that I told her that I would never U-Turn anybody, and that Kisha and Jen said they would never U-Turn anyone. It came out afterwards that Kisha and Jen did say they would use the U-Turn, and I would not have used it. It was Luke's decision to do that. ... It was very hurtful when it came out, but once the truth got out, everyone apologized. We never lied. When we promised [Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara] to U-Turn Amanda and Kris, we stuck to our word.

TVGuide.com: Do you think your fight with Kisha and Jen was blown out of proportion?Margie: I think it was. We all have a responsibility in that. We should've just all let it go. It became more than it was. There were some hurt feelings. But everything since has been great. We love Kisha and Jen, and I don't think there are any hard feelings now.

TVGuide.com: Luke, what has the reaction from the deaf community been like?Luke: The deaf community has responded very positively. They were very happy with how I played the game and that I made the final three. They were a little disappointed about the Kisha and Jen incident. It's kind of the deaf-culture thing that the natural reaction is to protect myself when I'm bumped into. I was also really upset when Jen called me a bitch because I couldn't hear what she said. She should've said it to my face and not behind my back. I thought that was a very cowardly thing to do and I felt like she kind of got away with that. The deaf community was mad about that.Margie: It's been overwhelming the response that we've had. Luke wanted to go on the show for that reason. His whole life, people made fun of him because he makes funny noises, and he's been excluded from a lot of activities. He just wanted to show deaf people are not any different than hearing people and I think he really achieved that. Whether we won a million dollars or not, I think we've made people more aware.

TVGuide.com: What are you guys up to now?Margie: I'm just going back to work!Luke: I'm looking for a job. I'm going to help the deaf community. I actually want to help people in general also. Last year, I graduated from college and I didn't really have time to look for a job because two months later, I applied for The Amazing Race. I've spent so much of the past year focused on the show that I haven't really thought about what I wanted to do afterward.

When we promised [Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara] to U-Turn Amanda and Kris, we stuck to our word.

fascinating.

Tammy/Victor reached the U-turn ahead of Margie/Luke. Why would it be done for Tammy/Victor if they elected not to use their own U-Turn opportunity to accomplish what they wanted (elimination of Amanda/Kris if this is accurate)?

When we promised [Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara] to U-Turn Amanda and Kris, we stuck to our word.

fascinating.

Tammy/Victor reached the U-turn ahead of Margie/Luke. Why would it be done for Tammy/Victor if they elected not to use their own U-Turn opportunity to accomplish what they wanted (elimination of Amanda/Kris if this is accurate)?

When we promised [Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara] to U-Turn Amanda and Kris, we stuck to our word.

fascinating.

Tammy/Victor reached the U-turn ahead of Margie/Luke. Why would it be done for Tammy/Victor if they elected not to use their own U-Turn opportunity to accomplish what they wanted (elimination of Amanda/Kris if this is accurate)?

When we promised [Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara] to U-Turn Amanda and Kris, we stuck to our word.

fascinating.

Tammy/Victor reached the U-turn ahead of Margie/Luke. Why would it be done for Tammy/Victor if they elected not to use their own U-Turn opportunity to accomplish what they wanted (elimination of Amanda/Kris if this is accurate)?

An Exclusive 3rd Place Road Block with Margie and Luke of The Amazing Raceby Reg Seeton

Every season of The Amazing Race starts out with the teams beginning the global reality footrace in the spirit of friendly competition. But when the reality of The Amazing Race sets in after a couple of legs from country to country, some teams find a way to get the edge over the others. Sometimes strategic moves are well received in the spirit of competition while other times well-timed opportunities rub racers the wrong way. In the 14th season of The Amazing Race, the competition didn't really get going until the racers got to Siberia where mother and son team of Margie Adams and her deaf son, Luke, used a Blind U-Turn on the team of Kris and Amanda.

Although everyone was racing nice prior to stacking wood in the Vodka soaked back-streets of Siberia, Margie and Luke unexpectedly cranked up The Amazing Race heat on the others teams to become one of the strongest and smartest teams to look out for the remainder of the race. Although Luke is hearing impaired, both he and his mother double-handedly took the race to a new level of competition, as mother and son dominated the top five positions in almost each and every leg.

But when The Amazing Race went from Thailand to China, Margie and Luke found themselves squaring off at the mat in front of host Phil Keoghan over an altercation with fellow Amazing Race competitors, Kisha and Jen. When the sparks subsided and Kisha and Jen were later eliminated from the race, Margie and Luke continued their pursuit of the million dollar prize by claiming one of the top three spots alongside brother and sister team Tammy and Victor plus former NFL cheerleaders Cara and Jaime to run the final leg of The Amazing Race.

When the teams touched down in Maui within a challenging laid back vibe, Margie and Luke breezed through the Road Block by passing the others while carrying a dead pig on a stick to its final ceremonial resting place. But Maui proved to be an insurmountable Amazing Race wall that stopped Margie and Luke in their tracks when Luke struggled in the final Detour, allowing both Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara to catch up and pass them. At the final mat, it was Tammy and Victor who claimed first place and the million dollar prize while Jaime and Cara crossed the finish line in second place, with Margie and Luke in third place not too far behind the others.

The very next morning, bright and early, we caught up with arguably the strongest female competitor The Amazing Race has ever seen and her passionately persistent and determined son to find out how Margie and Luke felt about the final leg in Maui, what they would have done differently, how Luke's deaf condition was an advantage to them, what they think of Kisha and Jen now after the fact, and whether Margie now allows Luke to be her make-up stylist when she goes out.

THE DEADBOLT: How tough was it going through the swings of emotion watching Luke in the final Road Block?

MARGIE ADAMS: You know, it’s really difficult, because on that final leg when we arrived in Maui we were like 20 minutes after Tammy and Victor left, we finally got a cab, and when we got to the point where we caught up with the pig, we got ahead with the wave runners. Then to stand on the sidelines and not be able to help and watch it all kind of disintegrate, that was very hard. And to see how hard Luke was on himself about it, that was even harder. So it was a difficult day.

THE DEADBOLT: Luke, looking back now, what would you have done differently in the surfboard challenge?

LUKE ADAMS: [laughs] Just getting that picture right.

MARGIE: He should’ve eaten the bugs and then he would’ve known.

LUKE: But they didn’t show a full picture on the surfboard. Some of the surfboards had full pictures. But that last surfboard, especially on the food challenge had shrimp and larva and starfish, they had different things. But on that picture they only showed one scorpion. However, that picture was really bad. It was red on the background and then it had this black in it and it looked like swords. So it was really confusing to me.

THE DEADBOLT: How do you feel Luke being deaf turned out to be an advantage for you guys during the race?

MARGIE: I think our communication. You know, people are always like, "Oh, my God. Wasn’t that hard on the show? How did you communicate?" This is just how Luke and I communicate his whole life. I mean, we don’t know anything different. So it didn’t make it harder because we had to use sign language in the aspect of that we were able to communicate with each other.

But we have kind of our own shorthand sign language that we use and we were able to communicate pretty quickly, make decisions pretty quickly, and we also are very expressive, like when we sign, and so a lot of gesturing, a lot of facial contortions, I guess you could say. But it just helped us. And there were a lot of tasks where the other teams were talking, talking, talking and Luke and I didn’t have to talk at all. We just were able to do things without the communication. It’s kind of like a non-verbal thing that we have. I think it really helped us.

LUKE: I think it really helped us a lot, my mom and I, with the challenges. We were actually in the top four from the start to the end.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you think in some way you actually gave the million dollar prize to the public in terms of inspiration for what’s possible?

MARGIE: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely! We are so thrilled at some of the responses we received from the deaf community. We’ve had total strangers come up to us on the street and say, "Hey, I just learned the sign language alphabet." And people are making an effort to communicate with Luke with sign language and just the awareness. It has just been phenomenal and we’ve gotten such great support from both the hearing and the deaf community.

Like last night, we were at this party and group of four women came up to me and said, "We’re hear to talk to you because we all have handicap children and we’re teaching them sign language and you’ve just inspired us and given us hope. We didn’t feel like we would be able to have a normal relationship with our child, but we’re really invested in learning sign language and teaching our children so we can communicate with them." And they said that they really didn’t realize how important it was until they saw us on TV. And that’s just four people who flew from California just to meet us and say that and it was just incredible.

Yeah, the million dollars would’ve been nice, but it’s nothing compared to the response from the public. I mean, if we had to pick the million dollars or the response we’ve gotten from the public, we would take the response from the public any day.

THE DEADBOLT: When you used the blind U-Turn, how difficult was it to stay focused and not get rattled by the other teams?

LUKE: It wasn’t hard for me because I knew it was part of the game. I wanted to improve the challenge for my mom and I so it didn’t bother me at all. I know it bothered my mom a little bit.

MARGIE: No, it bothered me a lot, because I really liked Amanda and Kris. I mean, I love them now, but I just thought that they were really great racers and they were really great people. They were so nice and courteous to everyone, but we had made a promise with Tammy and Victor and Cara and Jaime that whoever got to the U-Turn first would use it to give the other two teams more time because it was a difficult challenge that day. And nobody knew where the other teams were because they were so far ahead of us.

So we had made a pact to use the U-Turn and, initially, we had agreed on using it on Mike and Mel. But when Luke and I got there, we just couldn’t use it on Mike and Mel. We just had really bonded with them, so we ended up U-Turning Amanda and Kris. And I think it turned out to be a really good move because they were such a strong team. Also, it was really hard for me to actually do it because they worked so hard on the show, and I know if it had been used on me I would’ve been devastated. It was hard.

THE DEADBOLT: How do you look at the incident with Jen and Kisha?

MARGIE: Kisha and I have talked, and I talked to Jen, and we all understand that it was a really stressful time. And the show doesn’t show that we slept outside on top of a mountain in the cold and rain the night before and we had been going non-stop for 36 hours. And leading up to that ...

LUKE: There wasn’t a lot of food as well.

MARGIE: Not a lot of food. We had a couple of Ramen, I think, and it was just really, really stressful. Actually, Luke and I were really getting on each other’s nerves, too, and we’ve acknowledged that both teams were wrong. We took it way further than it should and we’ve made peace. Luke and I both respect Jen and Kisha so much as people, as athletes, as competitors, and we have no ill-will and no hard feelings. You know, we have a little bit of regret about that situation, because we had had so much fun up until that point on the race, and then it was just a sad situation for me that it happened. But it’s over and we’re friends.

THE DEADBOLT: So, do you let Luke help you with your makeup now whenever you go out?

MARGIE: [laughs] Only when I want to look like Alice Cooper.

THE DEADBOLT: Now that the race is over, can we expect to see you on an all-star version of the Amazing Race? Will you guys be there if they ask you?

The deaf son and his fifty-ish mother were the most buzzed about team this season on The Amazing Race. When they won the first leg, they served notice that they were more than an inspirational story. The two wracked up numerous other wins en route to the finale. Their physical prowess gave them an early lead, but they fell behind when Luke struggled with a memory task. They shared what is was like to be a part of so many of this season’s most memorable moments, from Margie’s heat stroke, to their epic fight with Jen and Kisha. (For the record, Luke utilized an interpreter during this phone interview.)

Luke, take us through what happened during the surfboard challenge. You had a huge lead, then ran into trouble.

Luke: With the surfboards, some of them showed full pictures and some did not. With the food challenge it showed there was a scorpion, a larva and a starfish. The surfboard only showed a scorpion. It actually looked like swords or spears. I didn’t have a full picture. That’s why I didn’t pick the right one.

Did you think you had a chance of catching up to Tammy and Victor once you finished the task?

Luke: No. I knew that surfboard was the last challenge.

Margie: We both knew. As soon as Victor took off, Luke kind of gave up. It was really difficult to watch that happen.

The two of you whizzed through the pig carrying challenge, while the other teams struggled. What was your secret?

Luke: We used our body weight. Mom got on the front and I got on the back. We hoisted it up on our shoulders and used our body strength to carry it. Victor and Tammy didn’t do that. I don’t think Victor and Tammy have the upper body strength that Mom and I have.

Margie, you excelled at every physical challenge. Does it feel good to know you can kick a cheerleader’s butt?

Margie: Absolutely. We got there so much after the other teams. They were so far ahead. It was really cool that after we were able to get our pig up I knew that if we got it up higher we would be able to go faster than they were. Carrying it down low like both other teams were doing looked grueling. Both of the other teams had scrapes on their arms. Luke and I had a little bit of soreness on our shoulder but once we got the pig up we were able to move fast down the beach. We had a pretty funny moment. As we passed Jaime and Cara I said, “Bye bye,” at the viewing party.

Luke: It was my favorite challenge.

What was your least favorite challenge?

Luke: The make-up.

Margie: The make-up was worse than eating the bugs.

Luke: I absolutely an inept at putting make-up on women. Obviously.

Now that you’ve had a chance to watch the show, how do you feel about Jen and Kisha?

Luke: After I watched the show it bothered me a little bit. There was one part where Jen said, “Whatever is in front of me I’m going to push it.” I don’t think Jen pushed me on purpose. I don’t know. That was just really a bad day. we didn’t get enough sleep or food. We were stressed out because the night before we slept in a tent. It was raining and it was cold.

Margie: That was a difficult day all around, not just the interaction with Jen and Kisha. We were exhausted. We were starving. It really was much worse than it needed to be. We have all said we were sorry. We’ve all accepted responsibility for our part in the little scuffle. We respect Jen and Kisha. We think they are wonderful athletes. They have a really good competitive spirit. We didn’t interact with them much on the Race but we’ve been watching the show. We see that they encourage people. We have a lot of respect for them and are very sorry about what happened.

Luke: It made for good drama for the show.

Margie, what was it like getting heat stoke and collapsing into Phil’s arms?

Margie: The challenge was we had to take turns pulling a rickshaw from point A to point B. It was a two mile run. We had someone give us directions to King Rama park. When we got there it was the wrong park. We ended up running close to five miles with that rickshaw. I could tell getting into the cab to the pit stop that I needed to drink some water. It was a scary moment because I knew I was going down but I just wanted to hold on until I heard what number we were because I thought we were eliminated. Waking up and having Phil in my face, it made it all worth while.

When are you guys going to go on all those great trips that you won?

Luke: I want to go to St. Lucia soon.

Margie: Luke’s going to take that trip with a friend. I’m going to take the Mexico trip with my sisters. Then we have Puerto Rico that we’ll have to fight over.

Luke: Mom, you can have the Puerto Rico trip. It’s okay.

What moment that ended up on the cutting room floor do you wish America had gotten to see?

Luke: When we were in China, when we were on the bicycle, Jaime was next to me and we were signing to each other. This man was looking at me and he looked scared. So he pushed me and I fell over. The gnome that we had to carry broke into several different pieces. It was very funny.

Margie: I got off my bike to see if he was okay, and the man crashed into me, too.

Kynt and Vyxsin are Fancast’s celebrity Amazing Race bloggers. They have this question for you: Guys! Today, we have a SPECIAL message for you two from the students at the American Sign Language (ASL) Program at Corona Del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California. The Sign Language students there have been cheering for you two feverishly! Their question for Luke is: At what age did you begin to learn Sign Language? Their question for Margie is: Do you have any advice for people who wish to truly master sign language?

Margie: I suspected that Luke was deaf from very early on, when he was a few weeks old. He was finally diagnosed when he was one with a profound hearing loss. The next week we started at a pre-school for deaf children. We learned sign through the classes. I went to school with him. He was about foutreen months when he had his first sign. He signed airplane.

Luke: I was always happy to see airplanes.

Margie: Once he started signing he couldn’t stop signing. We started an oral program with Luke. He was doing pretty well with hearing aids. Then when he was two he got menengitis and and the little bit of residual hearing that he had was completely wiped out. We concentrated on signing after that. His sister’s never taken a sign language class in her life and she’s fluent in sign language.

After becoming the team to make it to The Amazing Race 14's final Roadblock in first place and nearly completing it before either of the competition's other remaining teams even arrived, things were looking pretty good for the "Mother and Son" of Margie Adams and Luke Adams.

However things eventually took a turn for the worse when Luke got stuck on the final portion of the task, resulting in the "Sibling Lawyers" team of Tammy Jih and Victor Jih passing them and winning the competition.

On Monday, Margie, a 51-year-old clinical research associate from Denver, CO, and Luke, a deaf 23-year-old college graduate from Denver, CO, spoke to Reality TV World about what happened at the final Roadblock task, why he initially did so well, and what happened at during their controversial incidents with fellow racers Jennifer Hoffman and LaKisha Hoffman.

Reality TV World: Congratulations...

Margie: Thank you.

Reality TV World: Luke, given that you're such a big fan of the Race and the show had used these types of memory tasks at the end before, you were actually anticipating that type of task, right? Based on the show, it seemed like you had planned on that being the final task.

Luke: Absolutely, I knew there'd be a memory challenge at the end of the leg.

Reality TV World: What happened at the end there, were you just pretty much swapping surfboards out at random when you were struggling?

Luke: The first ten I knew were right, but that last one, it was just so confusing. All the surfboards showed these full pictures except for the last one, and that had to do with the food challenge. And so I knew they had like starfish and scorpions and larvae and grasshoppers -- I knew that was the food that was part of the food challenge.

But on the surfboard itself it only showed a scorpion and that was it. So I put that down -- I looked at it and I thought it looked like swords, it didn't even look like anything to do with the food challenge. So that's why I kind of tossed it aside.

And then I had one with (unintelligible) pictures on the surfboard so I tried that one and the woman would say 'No, that's not right' and I'd switch to a different one and she said 'No, that's not right' so I went through a variety of these bug pictures and so I had no idea that [scorpion one] was the last one.

Reality TV World: So it wasn't until Jamie pointed it out that you finally decided to give it a shot?

Luke: That's it exactly.

Reality TV World: Margie, what were your own thoughts as you kind of stood there helpless?

Margie: It was so exciting when we got there. I knew Luke had kept a journal and he documented what tasks we had [done] in what cities in what leg of the Race and had everything documented really well. And he re-read it, you know, flying to Hawaii he was looking at it and studying it, and I knew he was really well prepared for that task.

And when we got there I was so excited because he was just flying through it -- you know 1-2-3-4-5 -- and then he got to 10 and he had a little trouble with 10 and had it out of order but then he got that right.

But that eleventh surfboard, he just could not get it and to stand on the side and not be able to help him -- not that I would have probably known myself, but -- to just have stand there and [only] be able to say words of encouragement...

Luke: ...oh but mom, I'm sure you would have recognized that last one with the scorpions.

Margie: (laughs) Yeah, since I ate them, I may have recognized them. But you know, Luke did such an awesome job. I... he did a million times better than I could have done with that challenge so I'm so proud of him.

Reality TV World: Luke, one of the things that kind of seemed to come across on both the surfboard and the 'Chekhov' task, back in Siberia I think it was, was that you almost seemed to lose your focus a little bit once things went off and didn't work on the first try. Was that the case, was that something you were aware of, or do you agree or disagree with that?

Luke: The Russian challenge was frustrating as well. Since I'm deaf I can't hear Russian words -- what their names are, what they sound like.

So I really didn't know that playwright and I didn't really recognize it because the Russian playwright's name ended with a 'v' so I never took Russian literature classes in high school or college. You know, I focused on improving my English skills.

So I got there and had absolutely no idea how to get this name so I continued to guess and finally I got the name right, but it took me a long time to figure it out.

Reality TV World: When did you guys first begin to realize that your big [final Roadblock] lead was gone and Victor was catching up and had a chance of finishing first?

Luke: I knew Victor would finish fast, he's a very, very smart man. And so he had studied and written down things too, so I knew that would be a big advantage for him in the game. So when he arrived I tried to hurry and I thought he was hurrying as well, but he happened to finish before I did.

Margie: And I think the moment the [next] clue was handed to Victor, when he completed the task, it was almost like, yeah, Luke was a little deflated (laughs)

It was like he almost gave up. We both knew whoever finished [the Roadblock] first was going to win the Race.

Luke: I wanted so much to finish before Victor.

Margie: Yeah...

Luke: And also I knew the surfboard challenge would be the last one before the Pit Stop so when Victor finished before me then I knew they'd won.

Reality TV World: Luke, you helped Jaime out immediately with that last surfboard [once Victor finished]. Were you ever worried that she and Cara might turn around and leave you guys there without revealing the one that you were still missing?

Luke: Sure, it crossed my mind, I thought she might leave.

Margie: I knew she wouldn't leave. I knew she -- you know, I mean throughout the whole race, every promise they made, every time we said we were going to do a task together, every -- they never, ever once like went back on their word... so.

Actually, the idea came from Cara and I. We were so frustrated after Victor left, just from not being able to help. [So] we said 'We can't help you but you can help each other' and then Luke jumped right in there and he showed Jaime first. It could have been a whole different ending if Jaime had turned her surfboard around first.

Reality TV World: That's actually the follow-up question I had for that. That decision of who revealed first, at least [it looked] on the show last night, basically determined who finished second and who finished third.

Margie: Absolutely.

Reality TV World: Was there any additional discussion [or] going back and forth about who was going to reveal first or was it just as instant as it appeared on the show?

Margie: It was just as instantaneous as it appeared on the show. Once we said 'Okay, you guys need to help each other' Luke just jumped right in and he was right there to offer the help to Jaime immediately.

He didn't -- well, I'm sure he knew that once he showed her that clue they were in second, or showed her the surfboard [I mean], that they would get second [place at the finish mat].

But you know, it just -- we were so happy for them that they got second and we're so happy for Tammy and Victor that they... you know, we were just happy to be in the Final 3.

And we had so much respect and we liked those people so much. It was really never -- I mean the money is nice, don't get me wrong, it would have been nice to have a million dollars -- but you know, the money wasn't the driving factor for us to be on the show.

So you know, just to be able to get in the Final 3 and to complete the entire race was just incredible and we're thrilled for Jaime and Cara and Tammy and Victor.

Reality TV World: Luke, based upon what was shown at the episode at the time, it looked like there was pretty much equal blame [to go around] on those incidents with Jennifer. Has seeing the footage changed your opinion what happened at all?

Luke: No. I think that was really just a bad day that the situation happened. We didn't have enough sleep. We hadn't eaten a lot. They didn't show the part the night before. We had to sleep in this tent on this mountain. It was so cold and had been raining.

But one thing was a big misconception is that when I was running to the cluebox, Jenn was behind me. And of course I can't hear, so I did not know she was behind me. So I did not mean to hurt her, it was just a natural reaction for me to protect myself. It was a natural reflex.

And then she called me a bitch behind my back and I didn't know this until my mom told me. And that really, really upset me. Because I felt like she had called me a bitch and she got away with it because I couldn't hear her. And so she called me a bitch and then she leaves and that's what I was upset [about].

And also the times when I was growing up being deaf, people said a lot of negative things behind my back and I thought that Jenn wouldn't be a coward and if she had the courage to say bitch she needed to say it to my face, not behind my back.

Reality TV World: Didn't she try and sign it to you?

Luke: The deaf community was really, really upset about Jenn for calling me a bitch. And the deaf community didn't feel that was respectful.

Margie: No, Jenn didn't sign bitch, she just yelled it and then I signed it.

Reality TV World: Okay, [on the episode] it looked like there was a hand signal there and there's been some confusion [over what that was]

Margie: Yeah, Luke was not aware that she called him a bitch until I told him.

Reality TV World: No, I understand he wasn't aware, there's just been some confusion about whether she had actually tried -- you know, [deliberately] did it behind his back or actually tried to make him aware of it.

Margie: No, she did not sign, I told him.

Luke: No. She was yelling bitch, she did not sign bitch to me.

Margie: And you know, I've gotten a lot of feedback and a little bit of flack from people about why saying 'Well why did you tell him?'

And you know I was there as his mother but I was also there as his interpreter and as an interpreter, you know you're obligated to say what people say. I mean that's what you're there to do, you know?

As his mother I would have loved to have no told him that and just gone on with the Race but you know it's not fair to him to keep information from him. So I've had a lot of people say 'Why didn't you just leave it alone, why didn't you just go on and not tell him she said that? ' Because that would have made things a lot better, but, you know.

Reality TV World: Margie, obviously you weren't there immediately up close [to Luke] when it happened, so has seeing the actual footage -- which my assumption is, it's a better [angle or zoom] shot than whatever distance you had when you were racing up behind him...

Margie: I was probably five feet away.

Reality TV World: Okay...

Margie: She ran into him and I could see her coming and she was like pretty 'full steam ahead and no brakes.' And I just knew, I thought she was going to knock him down actually. And she kind of did pull up a little bit right before she bumped into him.

But like Luke said, he has no -- you know, you might not even be aware of it as a hearing person, but you can brace yourself and prepare yourself if you can hear somebody coming from behind you and you think they're going to run into you.

But as a deaf person he was totally unaware that she was going to, you know -- he had no clue. And it was just a ridiculous response, and was just a reflex on his part. And you know, we said we were sorry and got on with it and, you know, it was just a bad day and we're very sorry it happened and we like Kisha and Jenn very, very much.

We have a lot of respect for their athletic ability, we think they're wonderful people. You know, it was just unfortunate that it happened and we don't have any problem with Kisha and Jenn now, we really like them a lot..

Reality TV World: But you guys obviously seemed to [initially] hold a grudge beyond that day. I mean there was multiple footage on the subsequent legs...

Margie: Yeah, but you know what, that was so coincidental. The bicycle where he pulled out -- the bicycle -- he didn't see them coming. And when he ran out to the cab, that was totally an accident, he wasn't like running after them.

The way it's edited says everything. And you know I think a lot of it was done to create the drama. You know if that incident the day before had not happened -- when he ran out at the airport and they kind of crashed into each other, that was totally an accident.

You know, I mean -- I think they made it, you know, they dramatized, they wanted to, you know, play out the drama for as long as they could. Those two incidents with the bicycle and the -- you know, those were just coincidental things.

Reality TV World: Yeah, I actually wasn't referring to any subsequent incidents, I was referring to some of the comments yourself and Luke were shown making about hoping that they'd be the team that was getting eliminated and...

Margie: Well they made some of the same comments. You know I think both teams kinda were holding on to the grudge a little bit. Like Kisha and Jenn said that they would absolutely U-Turn us. They wanted to get there first so that they could U-Turn us, and if we had gotten there first we probably would have, well we absolutely would have U-Turned them, no probably about it, because [they were] fierce competitors.

You know, from the time that incident occurred -- and again, I say we accept our, we're just as responsible as they are for what happened -- but you know, it just was an unfortunate incident and you know, we are very sorry that it happened.

These two are an amazing pair and it has been a joy watching them race!

It was so touching to have such a strong mother-son bond relationship like what these two have. Personally, i also have a pretty strong relationship with my mom and i can totally understand how Luke felt about his mom all his life.. the gratitude, the love.. everything!

Wow, i can't say they are my favourite team.. but my respect goes all out to them!

Reading this Reality TV World interview and the one with Cara & Jaime, I get the feeling the interviewer had an agenda. Whomever it was almost pissed off Jaime and this one could have been a bit abrasive.

This is Luke! I just want to drop in to say hello to y'all! I have been enjoying the posts during the season airs! It was so funny to watch you guys trying to figure it out! Jen H. and I got a bick kick out of it when y'all assumed that she is deaf!

This is Luke! I just want to drop in to say hello to y'all! I have been enjoying the posts during the season airs! It was so funny to watch you guys trying to figure it out! Jen H. and I got a bick kick out of it when y'all assumed that she is deaf!

Sorry, no Luke I was not at Tarcon but its certainly nice of you to sign up to say hello to us and thanks for the praise that you gave us on the RFFRadio show, Rob sure had fun interviewing you all. By the way congrats on your great race and thank you for the months of entertainment!

This is Luke! I just want to drop in to say hello to y'all! I have been enjoying the posts during the season airs! It was so funny to watch you guys trying to figure it out! Jen H. and I got a bick kick out of it when y'all assumed that she is deaf!

:-)

-Luke

Luke!

You rock. I'm glad you're at RFF. It was a pleasure meeting your mom on the Friday before TARCon at Peach's gathering. I wish I had the opportunity to meet you. Your translator is also very nice.

Welcome, Luke! I think it's way cool that you've been reading all these things this whole time.

I have to admit that I was not a big fan of your team after the incident with Kisha & Jen. I wanted to see the dream that defyed the spoilers last as long as possible. I do realize though that all of your actions were edited to emphasize things that get more money for the producers. I can't say that just watching the show means that I really know you.